Alpha Flip is another technically very complicated trick that will eat a lot of nerves before you can roll away smoothly, at the same time it looks very cool and if you want to add it to your pocket, now is the time to give it a try!
To first clarify what exactly we are doing, we can describe Alpha Flip as a combination of a Back Side 180 and Hospital flip or Casper Flip as some might name it.
Hospital flips are basically not that difficult once you start understanding the flick and you should be very well familiar with it before trying Alpha flips. Let’s shortly describe it;
For the Hospital flip you will need to set your feet just as you are trying a regular Kick Flip. You also pop just the same way, as you basically need to do half of a Kick Flip. Once you hit the air with half of a kickflip – it means you can see the board graphic and your front foot is under the board, you don’t leave the board to fully flip but instead, push the board with your font foot like you want to do a shove-it or even impossible,…
Once you understand Hospital Flip well enough, you can try adding a Back Side 180 which will lead to making an Alpha flip. In fact, it will help a lot if you can do a nice Back Side Bigspin because the board will eventually go in kind of a 360 Shove-it rotation.
Your foot position should be just as you want to Back Side Flip Because you will pop into bs 180 and at the same time flick your front foot for a Kick Flip. Don`t let your board flip all the way but once you reach the half of kick flip, push the board with your front foot slightly upwards and a bit in shove-it motion. The board should go up and around under your feet to Hospital Flip and it should look like between front foot impossible and Back Side Bigspin when landed,…
If you find it oud difficult to land because you land in a switch stance, a cheat move is to try it on a mellow bank so once you turn your body in a backside direction, you will be back in a regular stance.